


I Survived the Apocalypse and all I got was this Lousy Depression

by InsominiacArrest



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Cute, Depression, F/F, Fluff, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-25
Updated: 2016-02-25
Packaged: 2018-05-23 05:53:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6107090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsominiacArrest/pseuds/InsominiacArrest
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pacifica isn’t dealing well with losing their family money, Mabel comes and cheers her up</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Survived the Apocalypse and all I got was this Lousy Depression

8th grade sucked. The summer sucked. Her parents and their new house and the sick feelings in her stomach, the ones that kept dropping lower and lower, sucked.

 

Pacifica sighed and continued to look at the ceiling. Which kind of sucked too.

 

She rolled over and traded the ceiling for the wall, it had two long cracks in it and the grossest rose pattern. Her body felt like heavy bricks and every instinct in her told her to burrowed deeper in her covers and hope the world goes away.

 

Pacifica was not happy with things after the apocalypse.

 

Things had gotten weird, so weird, and now it was just her and her thoughts a year later, there wasn’t even a magic demon around that could grant her wishes (which apparently used to be a _thing_ , and she totally missed out on it).

 

Pacifica reached for her radio and turned the music all the way up. It was something about winter and cold and maybe some sort of boy the singer lost. Whatever.

 

She buried her head in her pillow and seemed to enter a twilight space, not quite conscious and not quite asleep. She wished she was asleep.

 

“Mabel come for lunch.” Her mom eventually called up to her. She ignores it.

 

Seven minutes later the clicking of her mom's heels approaches the door.

 

“Pacifica it’s a Saturday, if you won't eat we at least expect you to get up and do something.” She rolled up tighter into a little ball in response, “Pacifica I’m serious.”

 

“Why don’t you go make some money, huh?” She throws back surly.

 

“You know we have a plan.”

 

“Like being _poor_.”  Pacifica grumbles back, trying to justify her malcontent. “All the other kids laugh at me mom, at _public school_. Which I have to go to. Public school mom.”

 

“It’s not ideal--”

 

“It’s not anything." She turns over in bed, "Leave me alone.”

 

Her mother humphs and says some other disparaging words about Pacifica ‘ruining the family name’ and ‘making things worse for them then they already were.’ 

Pacifica continues to point out how her parents got them into the poor house themselves, and how her mom was wearing knock-off earrings. That got her to leave.

 

Pacifica bunched into a tighter ball and counted up to a hundred, the room was hot and sticky and her clothes stuck to her body, she didn’t kick off her sheets though, she just sighed and thought about her cotton pillow cases. Which were Not Satin.

 

She was dozing off once again when more foot steps came from the hallway.

 

“Pacifica!” Her mom was back, she groaned.

 

“I’m not interested!”

 

Her mom opened the door and said evenly, “you’re little friend is here.”

 

Pacifica blinked slowly, little friend….?

 

“Hi!” A girl in a bright pink sweater burst into the room, “I heard someone was feeling down!” She sang into the humid room.

 

Pacifica narrowed her eyes, this seemed suspicious, “what do you want?”

 

“To cheer a little miss grumpy up,” she said fondly.

 

“I just leave you two…” Her mom looked between the two of them, probably wanting to urge Pacifica to not mingle with the lower class. That didn’t exactly apply anymore, “don’t get anything on the carpets.” She says firmly and closes the door.

 

Pacifica sniffs and sits up in bed, dragging her blanket around her shoulders as she goes, she examines Mabel. “I didn’t know you were back.”

 

“Yeah,” she confirms as she goes through a basket she brought, “and you haven’t even tried to come see me.”

 

Pacifica turns and stares out the window, “why would I want to do that?”

 

Mabel just shakes her head, “do I have to teach you the true meaning of friendship?” She teases, “we saved the world together and everything!” She bounces up to sit on Pacifica’s bed with her, “besides I’m always in the mood for cheering someone up.”

 

“I’m fine shack-girl.” She seethes back. “In fact I was in the middle of nice nap.” She says pointedly.

 

Mabel just shakes her head, “Pacifica, Pacifica, Pacifica.”

 

Pacifica looks around, “um, yes?”

 

“It’s summer!” She pulls up the basket onto her lap, “silly.” She boops her on the nose.

 

“Yeah. And it sucks.” She says slowly. “I’m not sure if you know this, but I lost my house, and my money, and banana republic denied my card just last week.”

 

Mabel just smiles and tilts her head, “and that’s why I’m here.”

 

“What? You guessed I was lying in bed having _a great time_.”

 

“No, I just hadn’t seen you yet, and also we had this whole thing with a fortune teller we accidentally made angry and she cursed us, but then she told us about people in our lives, and the future and it was great.”

 

“Right.” Pacifica responds slowly, “well you’ve seen me and I’m fine. You can go.”

 

Mabel reaches into her basket, “Okay. But first, I brought you things!” She chirps, “no one can be frowny after,” she dramatically paused and then yanked out a felt hat, “home made hats!”

 

“Really?”

 

“And stickers and some cookies from Kmart, and oh,” she pauses from taking things out and Pacifica examines the things around them.

 

“A new sweater!” It was yellow this time with another, larger, llama on it.

 

Pacifica blows a hair out of her face, “no.”

 

Mabel frowns ever so slightly, “it’s my happy sweater. I made it out of the sweater I wore when I was sad right before Bill came.” Her brow was furrowed and Pacifica’s heart stutters a little. Just a little.

 

“I’m trying to move up back to Armani, not back down to ‘shabby homespun knitwear.” Mabel was genuinely pouting now.

 

“Well,” she lowers the sweater to her lap, “why don’t I just fix up your old sweater?” She says slowly, “it must be worn out by now.”

 

“Uh,” Pacifica sweats, it totally wasn’t underneath her pillow or anything, “I don’t know where it is.”

 

Mabel definitely seemed definitely disheartened then.

 

“Look Mabel, it’s nothing personal, it was long year and a lot of moving.” She tries to explain.

 

Mabel brightens up at Pacifica’s effort.

 

“I’m sure! Your new house it pretty great. It’s not so big and kinda of intimidating, the balls were fun of course, but this is homey!”

 

“This is a disgrace!” Pacifica kicks her sheets. “I would sue my parents if my lawyers told me I had to pay the attorneys first.”

 

Mabel chuckles, “okay, okay, but the year couldn’t have been _all_ bad.”

 

“It was.” She wraps the blanket around her head, “my last haircut only cost a hundred dollars and now it’s a mess.”

 

Mabel took a deep breath, “like not-money-good-things, 8th grade is the last year before high school!”

 

Pacifica shifted her weight back and forth, “I thought _you_ didn’t like high school?”

 

Mabel shrugs, “there is always good things about anything.”

 

Pacifica rolls her eyes, “how do you not have diabetes? With all the,” she gestures at her, “sweetness.”

 

“Optimism solves everything," she leans in, "and that's super nice Pacifica."

 

“What?”

 

“You called me sweet.” Pacifica’s face went red and she turns her body around.

 

“It wasn’t supposed to be a compliment.”

 

“I’ll take it.” 

 

Pacifica sprouts a small smile. “Well, you can do whatever you want, I’m going back to "moping" and "sleep".”

 

She rolls over in bed. She feels a dip in the bed next to her as Mabel climbs into the Queensized mattress.

 

“We can nap together. Sad sleeps can be happier.”

Pacifica shakes her head, “there’s nothing to be happy about.” She makes sure her voice doesn’t crack.

 

Mabel’s face fills with sincere concern, “are you alright Pacifica?” She asks quietly. 

 

“I mean, not really. I have like one pony left.” She frowns, “her name is sugar lump, and I have to sher her.”

 

“Sher?”

 

“That thing we did with the taco.” She confirms and Mabel giggles.

 

“But, are  _you_ alright?” Pacifica curls up tighter than she was before.

 

“The apocalypse sucked. But sure, yeah, I’m great.” She tosses her long hair over her shoulder.

 

Mabel leans in and whispers, “we had a health ed class on this.”

"About?"

"Not getting out of bed and feeling not-happy." She examines her and Pacifica feels her heart rate pick up in a sick way.

 

“And what about you?” Pacifica changes the subject.

 

“How about me?”

 

“Like,” Pacifica searches for the words as she slightly sits up, “you know, all of you or whatever.”

 

“Are you asking how I am?” She beams.

 

“Yeah. I guess, that thing.” Pacifica’s face is flushing again.

 

“Well,” she starts out, “the year was a little less exciting than I planned, but I did meet a boy,” Pacifica heart sinks, “I mean,” she laughs, “ _several_.” Pacifica’s heart reaches her toes and then lowers.

 

“That sounds wonderful.” She says sarcastically. “I lost several boys.”

 

“You did?” Her eyes go wide and she props her head in interest.

 

“Yeah. His name was 'the Benjamins'.”

 

Mabel pauses for a moment, like she was struck by something, then breaks out into a fully bodied laugh, wiping her eyes she guffaws.

 

Pacifica sniffs and looks away, ignoring the fluttering in her gut.

 

“You’re funny.” Mabel smiles at her again, Pacifica manages a straight face.

 

“Northwests aren’t funny.”

 

“Well you are!” Pacifica begins to smile again.

 

“Thanks.” She tucks her hair behind an ear, “now tell me about all these stupid boys, I’ll judge them all one by one.”

 

“Ooh, alright.”

 

There was Francisco the baker, who didn’t know she existed, Kyle the homecoming planner, Conner the ‘bad boy,’ and Max the hairdresser. One couldn’t dance (“like at all” and ruined her party or something), another smoked and made her hair smell bad, and the other one was gay.

 

“Gay, huh?” Pacifica looked at the wall some more. There were exactly two cracks in it.

 

“Yeah! I helped him find a boyfriend.” She says dreamily, “I did that with a lot of people actually.” She wilts at that.

"And his parents didn't say anything?"

Mabel shrugs and bounces up and down, "California is pretty open! And so were his folks."

Pacifica nods thoughtfully.

"It sure didn't help me at all though." Mabel reflects, "I was single for like five months!"

“I'm sure you were too good for them.” Pacifica fluffs her hair, “and relationships are overrated unless they get you a merger with another company, an empire or a royal title.” Mabel moves her mouth to the side, “that’s what my dad always says.”

 

Mabel goes back to grinning, “so you didn’t date this year?”

 

“I tried not to leave my room this year.” Pacifica says offhandedly, “being seen in off-brand clothes is embarrassing enough as it is.”

 

She expects Mabel to laugh or say something in exasperation, she instead goes very still.

 

She reaches out her hand and takes Pacifica's hand in her own, “that sounds sad.” Pacifica hunches her shoulders over and bites her lip, “I’m sorry it was so rough.”

 

Pacifica can feel her eyes almost misting over, “it’s.” She doesn’t finish, “thanks. No one's said that,” she looks around, “I mean, it’s fine.”

She stumbles over her words until they don’t make sense anymore, Mabel squeezes her hand, holding it tight, Pacifica doesn’t pull away.

 

She lies back down, “I’m tired.” She covers her face to hide how beat red it was.

 

They lie down facing each other, Mabel nods her head, “napping together is supposed to be super bonding.”

 

Pacifica looks up at her through her lashes, “did you like the mini golf club I gave you?” It sounded shy even to her ears, she should be embarrassed.

 

“Yeah!” Mabel sings, “you’ll be happy to know I hit some obnoxious unfashionable boy with it.” She says breezily.

 

“Uh, why?” Pacifica settles in.

 

Mabel really frowns for what felt like the first time, “he teased me. Dipper tried to help but,” she stops herself, “but everything's great now! Gravity Falls is a nice change.”

 

Pacifica nods, not knowing what to say, “give me his number and I’ll ruin his life.” She finally replies lowly.

“Um.”

“Frozen bank accounts, future employers notified, everything.”

 

Mabel laughs, “I don’t think we need that...just yet.” She says slowly, and Pacifica sighs dramatically. “But thanks.”

 

“No problem. I mean you would owe me, but I suppose we are friends by now.”

 

Mabel’s eyes increase as the look on at each other in the bed, “we really are?”

 

Pacifica doesn’t meet her eyes, “sure." She quirks a smile, "We stopped the apocalypse together.”

 

Mabel takes her hand, “you do judge all my boyfriends though.”

 

“All of them. No friend of mine will date losers.”

 

“Who is not a loser then?”

 _Me_. She doesn’t say that, “that’s to be determined.”

 

Mabel giggles and they lie in the hot room as the sun goes down and say small, light words to one another. Mabel coaxes Pacifica into eating (cookies) and Pacifica gets Mabel to help her with both of their hair. She takes the sweater and hugs it to her side when Mabel isn't looking and climb back into bed.

They do finally fall asleep, and Pacifica can feel Mabel's breath on her cheek and a steady heart beat next to hers.

 

The light dies and Pacifica feels something indescribable, like intimacy or warmth but she never knew what any of those meant. She closes her eyes and thinks about the new sweater.

 

The next day Mabel tells her parents to look after her and Pacifica tries to get dressed for once, it’s not perfect, or even good, but maybe a little better. She eats breakfast and goes outside and tried to talk to her dad (bad idea). And it was a little better.

She survived the apocalypse, she could probably do a lot.


End file.
